Safely sanitize your cell phone 3-4 times per day to reduce spread of infectious germs

DENHAM SPRINGS, La. (WAFB) - We always have our cell phones. We pull them out of our pocket and put them up to our face, but according to Charles Looney at Cell Phone Repair in Denham Springs, it’s those unconscious behaviors that could continue to spread coronavirus germs.

So he taught us how to disinfect our phones.

“I take some rubbing alcohol and rub it all over,” Looney demonstrated with rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs.

That’s essentially all you need to disinfect your smartwatch, earbuds, case, and cell phone. Looney has been doing this for eight years. He sees what you might not see.

“Look at all the grit around the edges and stuff,” said Looney. He put WAFB reporter, Amanda Kitch’s, cell phone case under a microscope.

“Look at that, that’s a piece of hair,” he said.

He explains that our phones act as fomites, which is an object that can carry infection and transmit germs.

“Let’s say you touched that door handle and that door handle was contaminated, then you touched your phone… You just made your phone a fomite. It’s a chain reaction,” said Looney.

He recommends cleaning your phone three or four times per day with a piece of cotton or a towel and rubbing alcohol. Looney says rubbing alcohol won’t damage your phone or leave a residue. A bleach and water solution works as well. Just be more cautious when wiping that solution around the ports and allow it time to disinfect.

Looney also says our habit of pulling our phone out in public increases the risk of gathering germs on the surface, so he recommends you leave your phone in the car or in your pocket when you run into the store.